This invention relates to a hinge for doors or wings, in particular for connecting the door of an electrical household appliance.
More specifically, the invention relates to a hinge for electrical household appliances such as dishwashers, etc., where the appliance doors or wings are designed to support additional covering elements such as panels or the like.
This specification describes this invention with reference to a front-opening household appliance such as a dishwasher purely by way of a non-limiting example.
Hinges of this type normally consist of two separate parts kinematically linked to each other, either directly or through an interposed lever.
More specifically, the first part, which is usually box shaped, is fixed to the appliance structure on one side of its front opening, whilst the second part is fixed to an edge of the appliance door which can thus be tilt opened with respect to the front opening.
One or more elastic elements are interposed between the two hinge parts.
Basically, the purpose of the elastic elements is to at least partly balance the door, especially to prevent the door from falling when opened.
Precisely to avoid risky accelerations of the door, especially during its opening movement when the action of the user is summed to the force weight of the door itself, the prior art teaches the use, in addition to the elastic elements, of friction elements capable of providing a certain resistance to the door movement itself.
Hinges are known in the prior art which comprise friction elements which consist of two shoes mounted on respective linkages articulated to each other, and which are designed to slide on two opposite, facing walls of the box-shaped body of the hinge.
This solution, although relatively efficient, is not free of disadvantages.
A first disadvantage is due to the complexity of the linkages the shoes are mounted on, which in practical terms, translates as a high cost not only for the components themselves but also for their assembly.
Another disadvantage, connected with the position of the shoes, is the risk of the shoes themselves becoming sullied by oily grime or lubricant residues which reduce the friction they apply.
Another disadvantage inherent in the prior art hinges with friction system is linked to the impossibility of adjusting the friction action. That means doors that differ in weight even very slightly must be provided with different hinges, which in turn involves considerably high production and storage costs to meet the requirements of doors that can vary significantly in weight, for example when the doors are covered by paneling. In other words, if an electrical household appliance leaves the factory with certain hinges, it is quite possible that the hinges will not be able to guarantee correct door balancing and friction action if the user, for aesthetic purposes, chooses to have the appliance door covered with panels, which may vary considerably in weight depending on the material the panels are made of.